Research & Publications | Healthy Eating Research

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Understanding the social safety net’s impact on food security to inform policy on how best to support children in low-income families

By providing resources to low-income families with children, the safety net has the potential to reduce food insecurity and improve nutrition. Understanding how much, how, and for whom the safety net impacts food security is a critical input into active policy discussions about the best way to support children in low-income families. The project will More

Date: November 2023

Resource Type: Grant Summary

Focus Areas: Food Access Healthy Communities

A Comprehensive Demographic Profile of the U.S. Evicted Population

Millions of American renter households every year are threatened with eviction, an event associated with severe negative impacts on health and economic well-being. Yet we know little about the characteristics of individuals living in these households. Here, we link 38 million eviction court cases to US Census Bureau data to show that 7.6 million people, More

Keywords: Housing

Date: October 2023

Resource Type: Journal Article

Focus Areas: Healthy Communities

The Effect of Emergency Rental Assistance on Household and Child Food Hardship

Housing instability and high housing costs are important correlates of food insecurity, and are disproportionately present for Black, Latino, and single-parent households. Although the last two years witnessed the largest allocation of funding for emergency rental assistance (ERA) in U.S. history, the impact of these programs on children’s outcomes, particularly their health and nutrition, is More

Date: June 2023

Resource Type: Grant Summary

Focus Areas: Food Access Healthy Communities

The Rent Eats First: A Multi-Methods Study of Emergency Rental Assistance and Food Insecurity

Forty-six billion dollars in Federal Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) during the COVID-19 pandemic may have bolstered food budgets by alleviating housing costs, yet impacts on household food insecurity (FI) and other health outcomes are unknown. This study will investigate to what extent ERA programs led to reductions in household FI or other key improvements such More

Date: June 2023

Resource Type: Grant Summary

Focus Areas: Food Access Healthy Communities

Advancing the Effective Use of Racial and Health Equity Impact Assessments for Healthy Eating Policies

The project aims to provide a preliminary assessment of how Racial and Health Equity Impact Assessments (R/HEIAs) are being applied to state and local laws and proposed laws related to healthy eating and food access. The researchers will identify and collect examples of R/HEIAs conducted on healthy eating and related food policies, analyze the R/HEIAs, More

Date: May 2023

Resource Type: Commissioned Research Project Summary

Focus Areas: Food Access Healthy Communities

The Charitable Food System as a Change Agent

The U.S. charitable food system can play a role in addressing social determinants of health because of its expansive reach and community connections. The article highlights (a) strategies to prioritize access to nutritious food and provide a dignified experience; (b) examples of how food pantries can be a portal to federal benefits, health care, and other More

Keywords: Food insecurity

Date: March 2023

Resource Type: Journal Article

Focus Areas: Food Access Healthy Communities

Healthy Community Stores Case Study Project Findings

Study Overview and Key Findings Improving healthy food access in low-income communities continues to be a public health challenge. One promising approach has been opening supermarkets in low-income neighborhoods or converting existing food retail operations to emphasize healthy options. The overall goal of this study was to use a case study approach to understand the More

Date: March 2023

Resource Type: Research Summary

Focus Areas: Food Access Food Retail Healthy Communities

Evaluation of U.S. Department of Agriculture Foods Programs for Households Using Nutrition Guidelines for the Charitable Food System

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foods programs for households are designed to provide nutritious foods at no cost to income-eligible individuals in the United States. Our aim was to evaluate the nutritional quality of the foods available from 3 USDA Foods programs for households (ie, The Emergency Food Assistance Program, Food Distribution Program on Indian More

Date: February 2023

Resource Type: Journal Article

Focus Areas: Food Access Healthy Communities

Refining the Nutrition Environment Measures Survey (NEMS) for Healthy Community Stores: Adaptations to Capture Alternative Food Retailers and Align with Dietary Guidelines

Inadequate consumption of healthy food is an ongoing public health issue in the United States. Food availability measures of supply versus consumption of healthy foods are disconnected in many studies. There is a need for an objective assessment of the food environment in order to assess how the food supply aligns with the Healthy Eating More

Date: October 2022

Resource Type: Journal Article

Focus Areas: Food Access Food Retail Healthy Communities

Using community-based participatory systems science approach to inform promising strategies to reduce SSB and excess juice consumption among families of infants and toddlers in Puerto Rico

The purpose of this study is to inform promising strategies that can curb SSB and excess fruit juice consumption and potentially provide safe, palatable potable drinking water as an alternative by building capacity in systems thinking among diverse stakeholders that serve families with infants and toddlers in Puerto Rico. The study will employ Group Model More